Climate change has a big impact on everyone’s lives, and if we all did our part we could reduce or even get rid of it altogether. If you are wondering how to reduce your carbon footprint here are some tips on doing so.

A good thing to know are the three R’s: Refuse, Reduce and Recycle, but there are two more words that are just as important: Reuse and Rot, which then makes it the five R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse and Rot.

Having zero waste would be a big step in the direction of reducing climate change. Practicing the five R’s can help in a huge way.

Another good way of reducing our carbon footprint is riding your bikes a lot more than you drive in your car. Almost all cars give of very harmful toxins that hurts our environment a lot and causes climate change to speed up. A good idea to help you ride your bike more is challenge yourself to ride your bike anywhere possible like to work, to school or even when you are going places with your friends. You also get two things out of riding your bike, helping the environment and getting a workout.

There are even ways that you can help out with the food you eat. Try to eat locally and seasonally and you could even grow your own fruit and veg. making the majority of your meals plant based is healthier and is better for the planet. Eating locally also means eating seasonally, which is grate for the environment. When you support local farmers, there is no need to worry about how far the food has travelled to get on your plate and if possible, try to avoid buying things with has excess packaging.

Another good idea to try and reduce your carbon footprint is to switch to clean and sustainable energy. While fuels burn, they give of bad toxins that increase the rate of climate change. A really good way you can help is by switching to a cleaner and more sustainable energy source, there are many ways to do this for example solar panels and wind turbines amongst other things.

You can even change your lightbulbs to economic ones to reduce the amount of electricity that you and your household use in your home.

Cheap and trendy clothing items go out of style quick and when they are thrown out, they are put in big piles of land fill. While the clothes sit there decomposing, they let of bad toxic gases. A lot of fashion is made and shipped from Bangladesh and China, so shipping all that around the world would require a lot of fuel. Instead of buying those clothes you could buy long lasting, locally made clothes.

Taking your own reusable bag to the supermarket with you is also a good way to reduce landfill.

Gareth Willmot

Gareth Willmot is a serial weird festival collector, coffee snob and a neurotic last-minute traveller who is passionate about marketing, ultramarathons and yoga.